Bush Pressed for Abortion Stance

DES MOINES —  Four frenetic days before the Iowa caucuses, Republican front-runner George W. Bush was thrown on the defensive Thursday over an issue he has tried to play down--abortion--and Democratic front-runner Al Gore went on the offensive on one he hopes will cement his victory--home state pride in Iowa’s gatekeeper political role.

On a day that was supposed to be spent strolling before bucolic backdrops and urging Iowans to brave the cold on caucus night, Bush came under repeated questioning about his views on abortion, the result of challenger Steve Forbes’ relentless hammering of Bush’s bona fides on conservative issues.

Bush has long subjugated polarizing issues like abortion to a more moderate-sounding agenda. But in recent weeks he has skittered to the right, particularly on the issue of taxes--the better to blunt a surge by Sen. John McCain of Arizona. On Thursday, he uncomfortably extended the discussion of conservative issues to include abortion.

Questioned by reporters, the Texas governor characterized Roe vs. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision establishing abortion rights, as “a reach.”

“It overstepped the constitutional bounds, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.

Bush has refused to pledge that he will appoint an abortion rights opponent as his running mate or to impose an anti-abortion litmus test on Supreme Court or federal judges. He has said instead that he would appoint “strict constructionists,” but he refused Thursday to detail exactly what that meant.

“I’m not going to get into Supreme Court rulings,” Bush said, visibly perturbed. “I’m not a lawyer.”

He became most flustered, however, when asked what he would say to someone who became pregnant as a result of rape and came to him for advice about an abortion.

“I believe there are three exceptions when it comes to abortion,” he said, referring to cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is threatened. “I would say, you know, I would be able to look in sympathy on the rape case and help comfort her.”

As for whether she should seek an abortion, he said, “It’s up to her.”

Forbes, who is running second to Bush in pre-caucus Iowa polling, highlighted his claim to anti-abortion voters Thursday with a visit to Aid to Women, a Cedar Rapids counseling and support center for pregnant women seeking alternatives to abortion.

“It is not enough to say one is pro-life,” said Forbes.

“I have taken the pledge in selecting a pro-life running mate. He has not chosen to do so. I’ve pledged to appoint only pro-life judges. He has not done so.”

Bush and Forbes describe themselves as abortion opponents, but as Thursday’s tete-a-tete demonstrated, they differ over the lengths to which a candidate must go to satisfy the definition. To the frustration of Forbes and fellow conservative candidates Gary Bauer and Alan L. Keyes, many conservative anti-abortion activists have sided with Bush and have looked the other way as he limited his public discussion of the issue.

The skirmish over abortion Thursday interrupted Bush’s efforts to firm up support from any complacent backers and generate a turnout Monday that will match his expansive lead in the pre-caucus polling.

On the other side of the political divide, Vice President Gore was attempting to do the same thing--and he dived gladly Thursday into a window of opportunity left open by his Democratic challenger, former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey.

On Wednesday, Bradley had defended his projected loss in the Iowa caucuses by saying, “Iowa is a state that rewards entrenched power.”

Gore, experienced in the chest-thumping of Iowans and New Hampshirites who cherish their traditional role as bulwarks of democracy, took on the role of defender-in-chief at his first campaign event, in Council Bluffs.

“The Iowa caucuses are all about people listening carefully, looking candidates straight in the eye [and deciding] if they can do a good job for this country or not,” he declared.

After Bradley “has spent more money here than any Democratic candidate in the history of the United States of America . . . he has evidently developed a new view of the Iowa caucuses.”

Gore neatly melded his Bradley blast with his campaign pledge to fight for his voters.

“Fighting to save the family farm is not entrenched power,” he said. “That’s about fighting for people. Fighting to treat teachers like the professionals they are is not about entrenched power. That’s fighting for the people.”

Bradley on Thursday repeated his contention about entrenched interests--code for organized labor and the elected officials in Gore’s pocket. But he said he remained optimistic about attracting new voters to the caucuses.

“I think we’re making up our distance very quickly,” said Bradley, who is running well behind Gore in the state.

Before an audience of senior citizens in West Des Moines, Bradley credited himself with thrusting health care into the front rank of campaign issues this year. He characterized his health care insurance plan as along the bold lines of the Social Security and Medicare programs put forth by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson.

“We ought to take advantage of this moment,” Bradley said. “Some people say, you either protect Medicare or you provide health care for all Americans. I say no, you can do both.”

His reference to some people, of course, meant Gore, who has criticized Bradley’s plan as excessively expensive and who has endorsed a more moderate plan--which Bradley, in turn, called too timid.

With all the back-and-forth between the candidates, it was easy to lose sight of the occasional silliness present in every political campaign. Bush did his best when he plopped down in a barber’s chair in rural Indianola and hoped aloud that the cleanliness of his scalp would lure the clipper into attending Monday’s caucuses.

But for sheer audacity, Republican McCain took the cake. Ignoring Iowa, where he is not seriously competing, McCain took his campaign to the front steps of the Russian consulate in New York.

He did it to highlight his fight against the “apparatchiks” of the state Republican Party, which, with its complicated ballot rules, is blocking McCain’s effort to get on the ballot.

“In Russia, there will be more than one name on the ballot,” he said, referring to that nation’s upcoming elections. “In New York, unless something happens, there will be only one name on the ballot. It seems to me that history has been turned on its head.”

Contributing to this roundup were La Ganga with Bush, Gerstenzang with Gore, T. Christian Miller with McCain and Anne-Marie O’Connor with Forbes. It was written by Cathleen Decker in Los Angeles.